[ORDER] Prompt 2

Herja and Garmr quickly moved to cover Alowyn’s cowering form. They stood in front of her staring up at the elder haedian. This briefly caused the elder to acknowledge them, but the elder reacted unfavourably toward the two vayrons. 

“Hardly, followers of Oris,” The elder hissed, “Defending a non-believer shows your true colours and reveals you as liars.”

Herja fled her position strong and glared at the elder. She was unmoved by his taunting. However, Garmr flinched and he almost started to defend himself except Herja shot him a quick glare to silence him. 

“Heretics!” The elder exclaimed and the group of haedians around them murmured. 

Alowyn squeaked out a cry while Garmr and Herja growled. 

Alowyn’s fear grew when the group of haedians began chanting for their leader. Alowyn curled into a ball to cover her ears. Garmr watched his small companion cower in fear and it added a level of frustration to all the other emotions surrounding him. As much as they didn’t get along, Garmr knew she was strong, but he couldn’t comprehend why she acted so weak. Herja knocked his shoulders to pull his attention back to the new sounds. 

Small pebbles jumped off the ground with every step the newcomer took. The size of this haedian was bigger than they had experienced. Garmr lowered his head and growled more fiercely while Herja stood tall waiting to see what they were actually facing. 

Shira’s eyes glinted with cold delight at the immediate hostility from the vayrons facing her. Her satisfaction grew when she spotted the cowering empyrian behind them. When she stepped into the light she hoped the vayrons’ resolve changed, but they remained unchanged. 

Herja and Garmr were used to seeing a variety of monsters with their time on the battlefields, so when Shira stepped into the dimly lit cavern her twisting horns and size didn’t faze them. However, just like with the elder, when the leader pinpointed their group’s weakness, she attempted to terrorize Alowyn from afar. The pair of vayrons only growled and hissed to keep her attention away from their companion. 

Alowyn shook in place, frozen after she spotted a massive haedian. She hadn’t felt so afraid during the journey and it made her regret everything. She wondered why she had to be here, and why the clan had to be so threatening. Somewhere along her thought train, she managed to look away from the frightening haedian and take in the environment around her. She was looking to hide. 

Herja and Garmr were getting ready to fight, but they quickly looked behind them to see what Alowyn was doing. They weren’t sure how to fight and protect her at the same time. 

“I’ll hide,” Alowyn mumbled to herself, but the pair heard it and it answered their question. 

“We’ll distract her,” Herja whispered back. 

Alowyn flinched at the reply, forgetting she wasn’t alone. She nodded and when the pair launched their attacks she moved discretely to a dark corner away from the fight. She curled her tail around herself, watched, and waited. 

In midair, as Garmr extended her claws towards the leader he activated his magic. Fire burst from his body, revealing a black skeleton and patches of lava. The flaming vayron surprised some of the lower members of the clan, but the elder and the leader weren’t fazed. Shira batted the fireball of a vayron away like it was nothing. Even the burn on her hand didn’t seem to affect her. 

Herja’s magic acted more like a whip of fire that moved like a snake through the air around her. She softened Garmr’s landing before sending her attacks of fire lashes at the large haedian. However, just like before, the burns left behind didn’t seem to slow the massive haedian down at all. 

Shira only laughed at the weak attempts the vayrons made to attack her. 

“Is this all you have?” She taunted. 

Garmr growled and threw himself at her again, only to be knocked away. 

“Maybe if the little thing hiding helped, you’d win,” Shira mocked when she locked eyes with Alowyn from behind the rock. 

“I’m sure we would,” Garmr growled back when he stood up. 

Alowyn was surprised to hear Garmr reply in such a way. She figured the reply would come from Herja and if Garmr did reply it would have been something sarcastic. The momentary shock allowed Alowyn’s mind to focus on something else other than fear and it brought back some of the calm she was used to. 

Herja leaped into the air and tried another attack. Wrapping her tendrils of fire around the leader’s hind legs to momentarily distract her while Garmr rammed his body into Shira’s side. The combined attack was more successful than earlier but wasn’t enough to do more than knock her breath away for a second. 

The pair of vayrons stood off to the side trying to think of their next steps, while Alowyn slowly collected her courage. Shira gave them all a chilling smile while she waited for their next attack. 

[842]